All-England Championships: Saina, Jwala-Ashwini Advance, Srikanth, Kashyap Ousted

March 5, 2015

Birmingham, Mar 5: Saina Nehwal and women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa entered the second round, while male shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap lost in the opening round of the All-England Open Badminton Championships at the Barclaycard Arena here on Wednesday.

All-England Championships

World No.3 Saina registered a comfortable 21-8, 21-12 victory in 38 minutes over qualifier and World No.53 Bellaetrix Manuputty of Indonesia. In the next round the Olympic bronze medallist will face the winner between two qualifiers - South Korean Kim Hyo Min and Japan's Yui Hashimoto.

World No.5 Srikanth was taken to task by World No.14 Kento Momota of Japan. The Indian lost the first game 18-21. He made a strong comeback in the second game 21-12 but lost the third 15-21 to crash out in the first round of the $500,000 Super series tournament.

Momota will meet World No.16 Marc Zwiebler. The German staved off a strong challenge from South Korean Lee Dong Keun 21-17, 19-21, 21-19 in an hour and 36 minutes.

World No.12 Parupalli Kashyap looked out of sorts and lost 13-21, 12-21 in 33 minutes to sixth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Jwala-Ashwini defeated Malaysian team of Amelia Alicia Anscelly and Fie Cho Soong 21-12, 20-22, 21-14 in 51 minutes. The 2011 World Championships bronze medal-winning Indian pair will meet Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei. The Chinese pair went past South Korea's Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan 21-13, 19-21, 21-5.

Also advancing was the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sume eth Reddy. They overcame a poor start against China's Chai Biao and Hong Wei. They lost the first game 9-21 before winning the next two 21-17, 21-17.

In the second round, the Indian pair will be up against the winner between Indonesia's Gideon Markus Fernaldi and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Germany's Max Schwenger and Josche Zurwonne.

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said he doesn't think Mahendra Singh Dhoni will play for India again, adding to the guessing game over the future of the superstar former captain.

Dhoni, 38, has not appeared for club or country since last year's 50-over World Cup and India's coronavirus lockdown could threaten his chances of getting back into the national team.

The Indian Premier League, the main platform before this year's scheduled T20 World Cup, is likely to be truncated or cancelled because of the pandemic.

Harbhajan, who plays with Dhoni at IPL side Chennai Super Kings, said international retirement was on the cards for Dhoni and that he was increasingly being asked about his teammate.

"It's up to him. You need to know whether he wants to play for India again," Harbhajan said in an online forum.

"As far as I know him, he won't want to wear India's blue jersey again. IPL he will play, but for India I think he had decided the (2019) World Cup was his last."

Dhoni, who gave up Test cricket in 2014, started training for the Super Kings in March but has not commented on his international future.

Dhoni led India to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007. He hit a six to seal the 2011 World Cup final victory and, along with it, his status as a national hero. He has amassed 10,773 runs from 350 ODIs.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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News Network
March 7,2020

Melbourne, Mar 7: Ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup against Australia, India spinner Poonam Yadav said that skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has given her a lot of support.

"Harmanpreet has been of immense support. When I got hit for a six in the first over, she came to me and said, 'Poonam, you're one of the most experienced players in the team, and we expect better of you'," Poonam said.

The 28-year-old experienced bowler has played 68 shortest format games for India and taken 94 wickets at an average of 22.66.

She has been in devastating form throughout the tournament and has bagged nine wickets so far.

"So, that kind of stirred something within me. I told myself if my captain has that much faith in me, I should be able to make a comeback," she said.

"I took a wicket in the very next ball, and didn't look back since. Now when I look back at that moment, it means so much in the context of my individual performance and run to the final," she added.

In the opening game against Australia at Sydney Showground, Poonam came within a whisker of the third hat-trick in Women's T20 World Cup history, dismissing Rachael Haynes and Ellyse Perry before Jess Jonassen was dropped.

The final of the tournament will be played at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on March 8 -- International Women's Day.

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